The Question about the Resurrection: Luke 20:28–33

The Sadducees, who deny the resurrection, pose a scenario about a woman who marries seven brothers, each dying childless. They ask whose wife she will be in the resurrection.

This question is not sincere—it reflects the logical mind mocking spiritual truth. The Sadducees, symbolic of the outer reasoning man, are trying to trap the deeper, imaginative self in a web of physicality and linear thinking. The woman passed between seven brothers symbolises a state—a soul—seeking fulfilment through external means. Each "marriage" represents an attempt to generate life from outer law, but none can produce the fruit of manifestation. The true union of 'marriage' is emotively described in the Song of Solomon.

Neville Goddard would say that without understanding the inner law—that imagination creates reality—all these outer “husbands” (attempts) are barren. Resurrection is not about dead bodies returning to life; it is the awakening of the inner man to his true nature, where life springs from within.

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Luke 20:34–38 – Jesus’ Response: The Life Beyond

Jesus answers that those worthy of the resurrection neither marry nor are given in marriage. They cannot die, for they are like angels.

This moment is the spiritual pivot: marriage here symbolises the union of conscious desire with the subconscious to bring forth creation. In the awakened state, you live from within; you're no longer trying to join with something externally. The resurrected being is one who understands the creative power of awareness, and so they "cannot die"—they operate in the dimension of the eternal.

To be "like angels" means to function in a higher, unseen realm of causation. Jesus then affirms that God is not the God of the dead but of the living. In other words, imagination (God) is always now, always alive, always able to create.

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Luke 20:39–40 – The Scribes Silenced

Some scribes commend Jesus' answer, and no one dares to question further.

Here, the rational mind, having been confronted with deeper truth, falls silent. Outer forms are temporarily humbled by the voice of awakened understanding.

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Luke 20:41–44 – Christ and David: The Great Reversal

Jesus now shifts the conversation profoundly: “How can they say that the Christ is David’s son? For David himself says... ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand.’”

This is a return to origin—a piercing revelation of identity. David symbolises the awakened man, the fulfilled state. Yet he calls the Christ (Messiah) “Lord.” This upends literal genealogy and points to a spiritual hierarchy: the Christ (the anointed awareness, the “I AM”) comes before David, not after.

Neville taught that you are not the product of your past or your lineage—you are awareness itself. Christ, as the eternal self, precedes even David, the perfected state. This is your true self recognising itself as source, not outcome.

In this moment, Jesus lifts the listener beyond law, lineage, and outer forms—directly into the realisation of eternal identity.

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Luke 20:45–46 – Returning to the Old Awareness

And now, Jesus brings the contrast into sharp focus. Having revealed the truth of origin and identity, He immediately warns the crowd against the scribes, who love status, public admiration, and the appearance of holiness, while devouring the vulnerable.

This return to the critique of the scribes isn’t random—it is intentional contrast. After revealing the spiritual truth of inner identity (Christ before David), Jesus exposes the old consciousness: the dependence on roles, rituals, and appearances that lack power. These scribes represent external law and false authority—a mindset that glorifies outer observance but has no inner life.

Neville would say this is the difference between the outer man and the inner man. The inner man creates through assumption and imagination; the outer man plays roles without knowing the truth of being.

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Closing Thought

Luke 20:28–46 charts a powerful movement: from the questioning of resurrection, through the unveiling of inner life, to the declaration of divine origin and a warning not to return to surface religion. Jesus reveals who we truly are before turning to show us what we must leave behind.

In Neville's terms: you are the Christ David called Lord—awareness itself. Don’t go back to the scribes. Don’t fall again for the trap of appearances, systems, outer piety, and any form of  rules without inner change. Know yourself as imagination, and live from that resurrected place.